As It Never Was And Always Will Be
by Miki Mechetta
Summary: There's a Kraang invasion coming, their Sensei's child has been turned in a mutant, and Shredder is on the warpath. Obviously this is the perfect time for our favorite group of pizza-loving ninja turtles to get themselves remutated, right?
1. Prologue

The rooftops and alleyways of New York City are never truly dark. Such a state is impossible in this city that never sleeps; the city where streetlights burn until the sun rises and neon glows guide those who find their pleasure in the darker hours. The only kind of darkness known here is the deceptive darkness of shadows. Shadows which are often more than they seem. Shadows that _move_.

Four such shadows watched in silence as a group of robots clad in traditional ninja attire carried buckets of glowing, green ooze into the building across the street. Only when the last bucket had been carried in and the robots had disappeared into the night did one of the shadows speak.

"Where does he get it all?"

The tallest shadow moved forward, studying the building across the way curiously as it replied, "Well, the Kraang probably provide him with it due to their alliance with The Shredder, but it's also possible that he…"

"Donnie, you do realize that no one actually cares, right?"

The interruption made the tall shadow start slightly, then it turned around and began an indignant protest that was quickly cut off by the smallest shadow's eager question of, "So, we're still going in there, right?"

"Yeah, Mikey, we're going in as soon as we make sure that Dexter what's-his-face is really alone," the first shadow replied fondly.

"And we can't do that from over here, so let's go!" the stockiest of the shadows cried before rushing forward and jumping from the rooftop to the street below. As it fell, a nearby streetlamp reveled its true nature, blasting away the cloak of darkness to reveal a humanoid turtle with a red mask drawn across its face.

As the red-masked turtle began to swiftly rush across the street towards his target, the other three shadows exchanged glances and then followed after him, dropping to the street and allowing the light to show that they, too, were turtles, each masked in a different color.

This reveal only lasted for a few moments before the group blended into the shadows cast by their target and, once they were all hidden again, a fight broke out.

"Why can't you ever wait until I finish telling you the plan, Raph?"

"You weren't finished? What more is there beyond seeing if Stickman is alone?"

"Well, there's… I… We need to go up to the roof and see if there's a skylight or… something."

The red-masked turtle rolled his eyes. "Great plan, fearless leader, I never would've thought of that. Whatever would we do without you?"

"Probably train a lot less," the smallest member of the group replied, drawing a glare from the leader and a smirk from the turtle with the red mask. A smirk that was quickly replaced with a frown as the group's fourth member spoke up, interrupting the little spat with a reminder that time was of the essence if they wanted to finish the job before sunrise.

With that thought in mind, the four turtles quickly made their way to the building's roof where there was indeed a grimy skylight that provided a somewhat blurred view of the laboratory below. As the quartet looked down through the dirty glass, they saw that all was as they had hoped: there was only one being present, a humanoid fly clad in a purple sweater and jeans. This strange creature was currently standing before a large vat of the green ooze known as mutagen. All the turtles had to do was take out the fly-man and then they'd be able to take all the ooze that they needed.

Excited smiles were exchanged, silent orders were given, and then they sprang into action, breaking the skylight's glass and swinging down into the room to attack the unsuspecting mutant, subduing him in a matter of moments.

As the group's smallest member finished tying up the now unconscious fly-mutant, the red-masked turtle sighed, "That was too easy."

His words instantly made the other three turtles tense, hands flying to their weapons as their leader, a turtle masked in blue, asked, "What, you think this is a trap?"

"No," the red-masked turtle replied with a shrug, "I mean that it was too easy. What's the fun if they go down without a fight?"

The group's anxious mood promptly evaporated as the tallest of the four, a turtle masked in purple, glared at his red-masked teammate and said, "Don't worry, there's still plenty that can go wrong so can one of you _please_ go get the Shellraiser? We need to hurry if we want to load up this mutagen and get out of here before more Foot goons show up."

The red-masked turtle returned the glare and opened his mouth to reply, only to be cutoff by the group's smallest member's nervous cry of, "Too late!"

A low chuckle made all eyes turn towards the room's doorway where a large, wolf-like mutant was standing, watching the group with hungry, yellow eyes and a wicked grin.

As soon as they saw him, the four turtles unsheathed their weapons and grouped together as their leader whispered, "Okay, guys, change of plans: first we take Rahzar out, _then_ we go back to the lair and get to work on the retro-mutagen."

"We?" the purple-masked turtle whispered back, "What we? I'm gonna be doing all the work!"

"Not now, Donnie!" the leader hissed as the terrifying wolf-mutant let out a howl and then growled out a command that summoned a small force of ninja-robots to his side.

The sight of the robots made the four turtles exchange worried glances. This wasn't going to be an easy fight.

Those thoughts were blasted away when one of the robots threw a shuriken at the group. A shuriken that the turtles easily dodged, letting it fly by the place where they'd been standing and crash into the tank of glowing, green ooze. As soon as the shuriken hit the vat, the ominous sound of breaking glass filled the room and all four turtles turned to stare in horror as the vat burst open, dousing them in a spray of mutagen.


	2. Chapter 1

Pain exploded through Donnie's body as soon as the mutagen hit him; pain and a strange, warping sensation, as if his body was shifting around, but neither feeling lasted long and now he was simply exhausted. Exhausted and terrified because he'd _remutated._ What was he now? He tried to remember what bits of foreign DNA he might have had on his skin and his mind was drawing a solid blank, choosing instead to supply him with mental images of all of the hideous and terrifying forms he'd seen other mutants take. What if he'd taken the same route as Timothy? How could he live like that?

These erratic thoughts drew to a halt when a timid voice whimpered, "Guys, what happened to us?"

_Mikey._ The fear in his brother's voice filled Donnie with determination. It didn't matter how hideous he was now, his family needed him and so he forced himself to open his eyes. The sight that met them made him gasp. Where his brothers had once stood now lay three creatures that looked, well, looked like humans. Very naked humans with… green skin? No, not green skin, skin that looked green because of the glowing ooze that they were laying in. Ooze that was, quite probably, still active!

That thought made Donnie's eyes widen as he jumped to his feet and scanned the room for an exit. What he saw made him groan. Not only did they have to deal with a pool of mutagen, but Rahzar was still here, watching the room with fascination and shock, but holding back from coming in. Why were he and his robots holding back?

Right, the ooze. Rahzar probably didn't want to go through a third mutation and who knew what this stuff would do to robots? Donnie really didn't want to find out and so he turned back towards his brothers as he cried, "Guys, we have to get out of here!"

The other three teens had been busily staring at each other, but Donnie's cry drew them from their stupors as they all looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"Donnie?" asked the closest one, the one with Leo's eyes, Leo's mask, and, apparently, Leo's voice, but now wasn't the time to figure out who was who. They could do that once they were safe, so Donnie just nodded and said, "On your feet, hurry! This stuff's still active!"

That was all that he needed to say to get his brothers moving. Within seconds, they'd jumped to their feet as well and begun scanning for a way out of the room.

Barely a heartbeat passed before the boy with Leo's eyes called, "follow me," jumped onto a lab table, propelled himself up into the room's rafters, and then launched himself into the outside world through the broken skylight.

The others followed, letting the boy with Leo's eyes guide them away from the lab and across the rooftops in a desperate flight that lasted far longer than it needed to, only ending when they finally reached a gap that was too big for them to jump.

For a long time, the four of them just stood there, gasping for air and staring across the gap, too confused and terrified to speak.

Then the silence was broken as the boy with Mikey's eyes sat down on the hard surface of the rooftop and let out a tiny whimper that drew his brothers' gazes away from the street and down to their team's smallest member. They all knew that it was Mikey, no one else had those baby-blue eyes, but he certainly wasn't the Mikey that they were used to. Their Mikey was a green, adorkable, humanoid turtle. This Mikey was something else entirely. This Mikey had skin the color of peaches-and-cream, tan freckles that dotted his face and shoulders, and a distinct lack of turtle-like body parts. In fact, the teenager before them looked as if he'd never even had a shell and they'd certainly never seen a turtle with longish, curly, golden hair before.

After staring down at the new Mikey for a moment, the stockiest of the four boys, a young man with almond-colored skin and green eyes, turned to look at his other two brothers as he hissed out the words, "What the shell happened to us?"

"I think that the mutagen made us human!" replied the boy with sea-blue eyes and fair skin as he stared down at his hands and tried to keep himself from hyperventilating.

"Actually, I don't think that we're human," replied the fourth boy, the dark-eyed one with olive skin and a little gap between two of his front teeth. As this final teen stared down at his hands with a curious expression, he continued on, saying, "We're humanoid, certainly, but not fully human. That's not how mutagen works. I'd have to run some test and examine each of us further before I could say what…"

"Now is not the time, Donnie," growled the green-eyed boy, having no trouble recognizing his science-geek brother in spite of their new mutation. "Save your lecture for when we're a little less _naked_."

"Hey, being naked was never an issue before!" piped up the little one. "Besides, we've still got on our belts and stuff, so it's not like we're totally naked."

"Mikey," sighed the boy with sea-blue eyes, "the belts really don't count as… Donnie, what are you doing?"

The other three watch in confusion as Donnie practically threw off his mask, belt, and other weaponry. It was only when he was fully undressed that the tall boy sighed in relief and sank down to his knees while letting out a whispered, "Thank goodness!"

That was concerning and the other three found themselves exchanging worried looks before the teen with Leo's voice finally had the guts to ask, "What?"

"Well, when you mutate, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what mutates with you. Sometimes what you're wearing gets attached and so I was worried that my stuff would be stuck to me," Donnie explained, making his brothers' eyes grow wide with fright as they realized the implications of the scientist's words. This realization was followed by a flurry of movement as the other three brothers quickly stripped off their own gear, tossing it onto the small pile that Donnie had already made.

It wasn't long before all three of them were completely naked, too, and the happy realization that their gear hadn't become fused to their bodies filled the three teens with a short-lived relief. Relief that ended as soon as they remembered that, while they were still able to take off their gear, everything else had changed.

As an aura of gloom settled over the teens, Mikey glanced around at his brothers, searching for their leader as he asked, "So, what'd we do now, Leo?"

"Go home, I guess," replied the teen with sea-blue eyes. "We need to tell Master Splinter what happened."

"And find some clothes," Donnie added as he began to gather up his tiny pile of belongings and place them back on his body.

"And how exactly do you plan on getting us home?" asked the green-eyed teen as he joined his scientist brother in the task of gathering up their things. "Do you even know where we are?"

The question made Leo frown as he glanced around the rooftop, looking for something familiar to let him know where they were because he honestly had no clue. When they'd left the lab, he'd been too focused on getting them away to pay any attention to where he was leading them. Had they gone east or west? Uptown or downtown? Given the state of this rooftop, the answer was probably downtown, but he really wasn't sure and, with their current state of nakedness, Leo really didn't want any of them to go down on the street and look for landmarks.

Luckily for him, they didn't need to.

"We're about twenty-four blocks away from where we parked the Shellraiser and only a couple of meters from the nearest sewer grate," Donnie explained casually, acting as if figuring out their current location was the easiest thing in the world. Of course, for him, it probably was.

As he offered up a silent thanks for Donnie's freaky, internal GPS, Leo turned to his tallest brother and said, "Okay, so, what's the quickest way home?"

Donnie thought about it for a moment before shrugging as he replied, "That depends on what you mean by quickest."

Leo arched a dirty-blonde eyebrow and then waited for Donnie to explain, which he did after a few more seconds of silent contemplation.

"Geographically speaking, the quickest route is to get into the sewers and go straight home. Time wise, the quickest route is to go through the sewers back to where we parked the Shellraiser and then take it home. I'd suggest the latter option since it's quite likely that our new forms are more susceptible to injury than our old ones, meaning that we're better off limiting the time we spend without proper clothing."

"More susceptible to injury?" Leo echoed worriedly as Mikey groaned, "Dude, what does that even mean?"

"It means that human skin is weaker than the skin of a terrapin and, since we've apparently become more humanoid, our skin is probably weaker, too," Donnie explain in exasperation before frowning lightly and glancing down at his feet as he added, "In fact, I'm surprised that we were able to run that far in bare feet. Human skin should have been torn on the…"

"As fascinating as this is, can we get moving?" Raph interjected harshly. "Those Foot goons are probably out there looking for us."

Silence fell in the wake of Raph's reminder as all four boys began to scan the nearby rooftops for signs of the Foot. Only when they were certain that they were truly alone did Leo speak up. "Right, let's get underground."

The others nodded and then silently followed their leader as he crept to the edge of the roof and began to prepare himself to jump into the alleyway below. Before Leo could make the leap, though, Donnie let out a startled gasp and grabbed his brother's arm, pulling the shorter male back onto the rooftop.

The action surprised Leo enough that he didn't even try to catch himself and so he landed on his backside with a thud. The jolt of pain that accompanied his landing made the teen let out a tiny whimper before glaring up at his brother as he hissed, "What was that for?"

"H-human bodies, remember," the scientist explained nervously. "We don't know how strong they are. What if jumping down there breaks our legs?"

"We were able to jump out of Stocker's lab just fine," Mikey offered, but Donnie just shook his head.

"We were jumping upwards, propelling ourselves forward and landing at the apex of our jumps. That doesn't stress your legs the same way falling does."

"So how exactly do you expect us to get off this roof if we can't jump, genius?" growled Raph as he glared daggers at the scientist, making Donnie gulp. Getting on Raph's bad side was never a good idea, but with their new bodies, it could be deadly. Who knew how much damage a punch would do now? Then again, that was a two-way street. Theoretically, a punch could do more damage to them now, but wouldn't a punch from them do less damage, too? What an interesting idea and how could he even test that? It wasn't as if he had ever taken the time to measure how much force one of his brother's punches actually did. Could he calculate it? It would be an estimate at best and a rough estimate at that, but such knowledge would certainly help them figure out…

Donnie's thoughts trailed off when his ears registered a low growling sound. Had Rahzar found them? Oh, no, it was just Raph, which was almost as bad, but not quite.

After allowing himself a brief pause to collect his thoughts and remember Raph's question, Donnie grinned and said, "We can use the fire escape!"

That response instantly squashed Raph's anger, replacing it with indignation as the team's resident muscle realized what his brother was suggesting. "What, you mean _climb_ down it?"

"Yeah!"

For a moment, Raph just stared at his brother. Then he shook his head and said, "No way."

"It's the only way to guarantee that we reach the ground safely," Donnie retorted. "Humans don't jump off of buildings."

"Neither do turtles," Mikey pointed out unhelpfully as Raph frowned and muttered, "Casey jumps from buildings all the time."

"Yes, well, Casey is an idiot with a death wish who also happens to be covered in an impressive amount of padding," Donnie rejoined before carefully making his way across the roof towards the spot where the fire escape started. When he reached it, he glanced back at his brothers pleadingly as he said, "Come on guys, humor me."

"Whatever you say, D," Mikey replied with a grin as he hurried over to his brother and jumped onto the metal fire escape. After a shared glance and a pair of sighs, Leo and Raph followed suit, even if it was a little humiliating because, really, what kind of ninjas _took the stairs_?


	3. Chapter 2

"I-I can't feel my f-fingers," Mikey whimpered, drawing his brothers' gazes away from the ground and back towards their team's smallest member. The freckle-faced teen had his arms wrapped tightly around his chest in a desperate attempt to keep himself warm, but it clearly wasn't doing him much good because he was noticeably trembling from the cold. They all were, actually, and that was evidently not a good sign given the way Donnie kept urging them to move faster.

Mikey's complaint certainly didn't help to ease the genius' worries. As he looked at his trembling brother, all Donnie could think of were the dozen or more articles he'd read on the negative effects of prolonged exposure to the cold, but the scientist didn't let his fear show. Instead, he forced a soft smile onto his face and chattered out the words, "I k-know, Mikey. Just a little, a little further, okay?"

"How much further?" Raph demanded as he rubbed his hands along his arms while trying to remember when the sewers had ever been this cold in early fall.

"About f-five minutes," Donnie replied and then he began to move along the tunnel again, carefully scanning the ground for any broken bottles or other dangers as he went.

The others followed willingly and it wasn't long before they found themselves struggling to wrap their frozen hands around the metal rungs of a sewer ladder. Leo went first, as always, and as soon as he'd declared the area clear, the four teenagers surged out of the sewer and sprinted to the safety of the Shellraiser.

The first thing Donnie did upon entering the former subway car was rush to the front and flip on the engine. Then the genius slumped back into the driver's seat and shivered as he waited for said engine to warm up enough that he could turn on the Shellraiser's heating system.

He could feel his brothers watching him as he sat there and so the purple-masked teen turned around to face them, fully expecting to see three shivering teenagers standing right behind him. Instead, he discovered that the three of them had huddled together in the middle of the car, forming a little circle of shared warmth.

Donnie's immediate inclination was to join them and wait out the engine's heating cycle someplace warmer than the cool leather of the driver's seat, but then Raph shivered slightly and the motion caught the dim lighting in just the right way for Donnie to notice something. Something he hadn't had a chance to see in the sewers because he was too busy leading the way, but now… "Hey, Raph, t-turn around."

The red-masked teen blinked once in surprise and then his green eyes narrowed in suspicion as he asked, "Why?"

"I w-wanna see your back," Donnie explained cryptically, which only served to make his short-tempered brother more wary.

Before Raph could reply, though, Mikey squirmed out of their little huddle-of-warmth with a cry of, "If you wanna see a back, you can see mine, D."

Then the freckle-faced teen spun around as he made a loud "Ta-da" sound.

Donnie barely registered the noise, he was too busy studying his latest discovery. A discovery that really wasn't that surprising now that he thought about it. After all, he had been relatively certain that they weren't fully human, this was just tangible proof of that hypothesis.

"Donnie, is everything okay?"

Leo's question dragged Donnie out of his silent musings as he realized that his brothers were all watching him with varying degrees of concern and interest, which confused the scientist. Surely they could tell what he was looking at, couldn't they? Of course they could, so why… Donnie's thoughts ground to a halt as he suddenly became conscious of an interesting, little fact: his brothers had no idea what naked humans actually looked like. Oh sure, they might have seen one on TV, but they hadn't studied human anatomy like he had. They didn't know that this was abnormal.

The thought made him grin as he absentmindedly leaned back and flicked on the Shellraiser's heating system. While the warm air started to flood the vehicle, Donnie gestured to Mikey's back and said, "Humans don't have a carapace."

The blank looks that this statement received filled the scientist with a feeling of despair that he couldn't keep from his voice as he cried, "Oh come on, Sensei gave us basic anatomy lessons _ages_ ago. You guys know what a carapace is."

"Well, yeah," Raph agreed, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

Donnie gestured at Mikey's back and gave his sibling an annoyed glare as he said, "Mikey has one!"

"I do?" the blue-eyed teen asked as he tried to contort his body in a way that would let him see his own back, a futile endeavor that just lead to Mikey spinning around in circles until he made himself dizzy.

While their brother spun about, Leo and Raph focused their attention on Donnie as the genius shrugged and said, "Okay, so maybe calling it a carapace is a bit of a stretch since I don't know if it's actually fused to our spinal column yet, but I'm guessing that…"

"Donnie," Leo interrupted, "we have no idea what you're talking about."

The scientist sighed, rose to his feet, and grabbed onto Mikey's shoulder, an action which successfully halted the smaller teen's spinning. Then Donnie motioned towards his brother's back as he explained, "See this… plating along Mikey's back?"

When the other two nodded, Donnie continued, "That's not normal for a human."

"It's not?" Leo asked while Raph reached over his shoulder and ran a hand along his own back to see if he had plating as well. As it turned out, he did. In fact, they all had a similar layer of armored plating that ran from just below their shoulder blades to their lower back. Unlike their former shells, though, the plating didn't stick out from their skin and form into a shell. It was more like a tight shirt that just covered their backs.

While Mikey and Raph did their best to examine this discovery via their hands and the Shellraisers metal surfaces, Leo turned to his genius brother and asked, "So, what does this mean, Donnie?"

"That I was right when I said we're not actually human," Donnie explained as he watched Mikey start to turn around in circles again.

When Leo realized that his brother wasn't going to say anything else, he nudged the purple-masked teen and said, "And?"

The question made Donnie look back at his leader with a puzzled frown. "And what?"

"That's it?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it has some major implications about the anatomy of our new bodies, but I can't say anything for certain until I perform a thorough medical examinations and run some tests. Unless you wanted to hear my theories?" Donnie asked with an amused grin as Leo shook his head and hurriedly said, "I'll pass, thanks. Let's just get home."

"Works for me," Donnie agreed, making his way to his usual seat in the back of the vehicle as Leo motioned for the others to do the same.

Once all four of them were in their seats, Leo shifted the Shellraiser into gear and took off down the street, headed for their secret entrance to the sewers.

As they drew closer to home, Leo glanced into the monitor that served as a communication relay between him and Donnie. The scientist was hard at work messing around with one of their mutagen-fried T-phones and, from the look of it, he wasn't having much luck salvaging the ruined piece of technology. The idea of arriving in the lair like this without giving their father any warning didn't sit well with the blue-masked leader for numerous reasons and so he asked, "Do you have a way to get in touch with Sensei, Donnie?"

"Not really. The Shellraiser doesn't have any way to call a phone. The only thing that I can think of would be setting up a link between the Shellraiser's computer and the computer in my lab, but I turned it off before we left."

"Great," Raph groaned. "So how are we gonna let Master Splinter know what happened?"

"I think we're just going to have to tell him in person," Donnie replied nervously as he flicked a switch, opening the passageway that led down from the streets and into the abandon subway tunnel that served at the teen's passageway back to their lair.

As Leo drove the Shellraiser into the passageway, Raph sighed and slumped down in his seat, folding his arms across his chest as he muttered, "Wonderful."

"What's wrong?" Mikey asked, glancing between his brothers as he did so. All three of them seemed to be growing tenser by the second and the freckle-faced teen couldn't figure out why. Sure, the whole double-mutation thing was _freaky_, but they were almost home now. Soon they'd be curled up under blankets and eating leftover pizza while their sensei made it all better.

Mikey's happy thoughts drew to a halt as Raph glared at him and said, "Four strange, naked humans come riding into our lair in our Shellraiser with no sign of us. What does Master Splinter do?"

"Kick their butts!" the freckled teen replied happily and then his eyes widened as he realized what Raph was explaining, but there was no time for him to say more than that because the Shellraiser was slowing down. By the time it had drawn to a stop, all four teens had looked out of the former subway car's front window and seen that their sensei waiting for them at the lair's entrance, as he always seemed to do when they were late getting home.

The sight sent shivers up the teens' backs as Mikey let out a strangled cry of, "What do we do, bros?"

"What can we do, Mikey?" Donnie replied nervously. "We'll just have to hope that sensei believes us when we tell him who we are."

The others hesitantly agreed, then they opened the Shellraiser's door and stepped out into the lair. The instant that Master Splinter saw them, his eyes narrowed and his body moved from a relaxed state into a fighting pose. Then he rushed forward as he brought his cane up into an attack position.

As their sensei sprinted towards them, all the terrified teens could think was, "**_Oh shell._**"


	4. Chapter 3

"Thanks, sensei," Mikey murmured happily as his father handed him a steaming cup of hot chocolate. The smile that accompanied these words drew a matching one to the old rat's face as he reached out and gently ruffled his smallest son's new-found curls.

Leo watched the exchange from the corner of his eye as he took a sip from his own cup of hot chocolate and then curled closer to Donnie, doing his best to absorb the genius' warmth. He could feel the blankets that their sensei had tucked around them moving in a way that told him that Raph was probably cuddling up to Mikey on the far side of the couch. The thought made the leader smile and he found himself thinking back to when they were children. To a time when this wasn't an unusual position to find the four of them in. Cuddling together had been a daily occurrence back in the days before Donnie had figured out how to heat the lair up to a livable temperature. Heck, back then there hadn't even been a lair…

Leo's thoughts trailed off as Master Splinter stepped back from Mikey and began to survey the four of them, silently taking in their altered appearances for long minutes before he finally asked, "Now, my sons, what has happened to you?"

It was the second time that they'd heard that question in the past hour and Leo shuddered to think of the first time. Seeing their sensei, their father, rushing at them like that had been terrifying in a way that the blue-masked leader had never experienced before because this time? This time wasn't a training exercise. It wasn't even the influence of some evil psychic. This was their father defending his home from invaders and he wasn't going to hold back.

Instead of taking them out, though, Master Splinter had stopped mid-rush and stared at them with wide eyes as he whispered, "My sons? What has happened to you?"

Leo's memory got a bit fuzzy at this point because he'd been too overwhelmed with relief to actually pay that much attention as Donnie muttered something about olfactory senses and scent identification before launching into the beginning of what was sure to be a long-winded explanation about what had happened to them. Leo did remember their sensei cutting the genius off rather quickly and then rushing into his private chambers, returning moments later with some of his older robes. Robes that they were now wearing as they curled up on the couch and listened half-heartedly as Donnie began to once again explain what had happened.

And, once again, the genius was cut off mid-lecture.

"Woah, who are you guys?"

All eyes turned to the turnstiles that served at the lair's entrance where a wide-eyed Casey Jones was standing, staring at them and gripping tightly to a hockey stick, looking as if he wasn't sure if he should be getting ready for a fight or not.

When he saw his friend's uncertain stance and drawn weapon, Raph instantly took charge of the situation by calling out, "Casey, calm down, it's us!"

The sound of his best friend's voice coming out of the strange teen's mouth made the hockey-nut's eyes widen even further, but his stance became slightly more relaxed as he called back, "Raph?"

"Yeah, Case, it's me," the red-masked teen replied with a grin, motioning for Casey to join them.

After a moment's hesitation, the human jumped over the turnstiles and entered the lair, but he didn't come to join the family right away. Instead, he stood at the entrance and eyed them warily as he asked, "What happened to you guys?"

"We got remutated!" Mikey explained enthusiastically as he bounced up and down on the couch, drawing irritated looks from his brothers and a small smile from his father, but Casey didn't really notice any of that. He was too busy focusing on Mikey because, sure, the little goof looked different, but that grin was pure Michelangelo.

That realization took away the last of Casey's worries, replacing them with confusion as he holstered his hockey stick and asked, "Remutated?"

Donnie took that as his cue to once again explain what had happened and so he started the story for the third time as Casey finally joined them on the couch. This time, the genius actually managed to make it all the way to the point where the vat of mutagen had been shattered before he was interrupted by Casey's loud exclamation of, "So you guys got doused in that freaky, green ooze and turned into humans? That's crazy!"

"No, it actually makes perfect sense," Donnie replied calmly before taking another sip of hot chocolate and letting out a happy sigh as the liquid's warmth spread throughout his body, heating him up in a way that the blankets had so far failed to do.

When the scientist was done with his moment of contentedness, he looked up to see five pairs of eyes staring at him in surprise. Donnie blinked a few times and then stared back as he tried to figure out what he'd done this time. Was it the sigh? No, that didn't fit the reaction... Oh, his comment about the reasonable outcome of their secondary mutation. Right, they probably hadn't figured it out yet. He'd better explain. "The Kraang are trying to terraform the earth. For them to be able to do that effectively, they'd have to engineer the mutagen so that it only reacts to the first external influence and then ignores all others. Thus the nature of this remutation is, in fact, perfectly logical if we assume that we were exposed to a stable version of the mutagen and that my theory of its true nature is correct."

The purple-masked teen finished his explanation with a grin that quickly faded when he saw the looks that his father, his brothers, and Casey were giving him. Looks that meant that they'd understood absolutely nothing that he'd said. Honestly, one of these days he was going to start explaining things in German, just to see if they noticed that he wasn't speaking English.

Donnie's silent brooding drew to a halt when Mikey grinned at him and said, "Dude, six notches."

Six? Really? Donnie sighed and then tried again, saying, "The mutagen is supposed to make earth into a new version of the Kraang's planet, right?"

The others nodded and Donnie allowed himself a small smile before pressing on. "So, the mutagen takes a non-mutated life-form, in this case us, and transforms that life-form into a mutant. In cases such as ours where the mutation blends together the DNA of two life-forms into a hybrid creature instead of blending together a life-form and non-living matter such as what happened with my spy-roach, the form that the mutant takes is based on the predominate foreign DNA that the life-form has been recently exposed to. In our case, a human. This results in a creature that is some mix between whatever the life-form originally was and whatever the foreign DNA was. In our case, a human-turtle hybrid. Still with me?"

Mikey and Casey began to shake their heads, but Leo and Raph seemed to be following along for the most part, so Donnie continued with his explanation. "In order for the Kraang to be able to use the mutagen effectively, the mutagen would have to be able to take a life-form and change it _into_ another one, or at least create a life-form that is genetically closer to the foreign DNA than the original DNA. This mutation also has to be a singular occurrence, meaning that the mutagen will only turn you into the first foreign life-form that you're exposed to, otherwise spreading the mutagen would just result in an amalgam of every type of creature on the planet. An amalgam that would be far more earth-like than Dimension X-like. Given that requirement, it logically follows that, after one's initial exposure to the mutagen, further exposure would simply make the mutant go further along the path to the creature that they initially hybridized with. Get it?"

The blank looks were back and Donnie was left in despair as Mikey frowned and said, "Dude, that was _so_ not six notches. That was, like, one notch. Maybe even half a notch."

The genius sighed and then fell silent as he tried to figure out how he could dumb this down further. How could he put this so that even Mikey got it? Oh, that might work… After taking a moment to consider what words to use, Donnie looked up at his father and the other four teens as he said, "Rahzar is more dog-like than Dogpound and Dogpound is more dog-like than Chris Bradford."

This statement was met with confused frowns as Raph stared at his smartest brother and asked, "So?"

Donnie smiled sadly and then said, "Timothy became a… mutagen-blob-thing and further exposure to mutagen only made Timothy more… blob like."

The genius could see that Leo and Master Splinter got it then, but the others were still floundering and so he added, "And we're more human-like now than we were before."

Now Raph got it, too, but Casey and Mikey were still looking at him like he was nuts, so Donnie gave it one last shot. "That means that, if the mutagen works like it's _supposed_ to, once you've been mutated once, any further mutation will just make you more like what you initially mutated into."

Realization dawned on the final two faces and Donnie allowed himself a small grin of satisfaction that was instantly wiped away when Mikey asked, "Oh… why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

Before the scientist could reply, though, Leo interjected, "But we're not actually human, right?"

"Right," Donnie agreed. "We're _more_ human, but we're not _fully_ human. In fact, now that we're all warmed up, we should head to my lab so that I can run some tests to…"

The purple-masked ninja's words were cut off by a loud groan from Mikey followed by a command of, "Donnie, dude, chillax. We're good, bro. Your tests can wait until after sleeping."

The scientist frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but Leo cut in before Donnie could utter a single sound. "Mikey's right, Donnie, we're exhausted. Our first priority should be rest and then we'll need to deal with the whole clothing thing before we even think about medical exams."

"Clothing thing?" Casey interjected curiously as his eyes swept over the pile of blankets that the four brothers were currently hidden under. "You're not wearin' clothes?"

As Raph muttered, "Depends on if you count robes as clothes." Donnie leaned forward and said, "We're… we were mutant turtles, remember? Clothing wasn't exactly a concern before this."

Casey blinked in surprise, clearly never having thought about that particular issue, but then he grinned that gap-toothed grin of his and said, "I can get ya some of my clothes."

The offer made Donnie tense as he was suddenly treated to a mental image of himself wearing Casey's clothing. An image that made him shudder because, even though the scientist knew nothing of fashion, he was instantly certain that he and Casey's styles didn't match in the slightest.

Then again, beggars can't be choosers.

As Donnie sighed and resigned himself to his fate of wearing Casey's cast-offs, Leo frowned and said, "I don't think I'd fit in your clothes."

Donnie glanced at his blue-masked brother and realized that Leo's statement was absolutely correct. In fact, now that he thought about it, none of them would fit into one of Casey's outfits. They were too broad shouldered for Casey's shirt and too muscular for his pants, not to mention the fact that that Casey was probably a good half-foot taller than Leo, Raph, and Mikey.

Casey seemed to realize the problem, too because his only reply was to frown and then sink back into the couch cushions with a sigh, crossing his arms across his chest as he did so.

While the hockey-nut sulked, Mikey looked over at Donnie and asked, "So how are we gonna get clothes?"

The question made the purple-masked genius scowl as he tried to think up a solution and found himself drawing a blank. There was no way that they could go shopping like this. Sensei's old robes would draw far too much attention and their lack of undergarments would definitely be a problem when it came to trying on clothing in a shop. Even if the shop owners didn't notice, there was no way that Donnie was going to let his siblings do something so unsanitary.

Which meant that they'd need someone to get them the basics and that brought them back to Casey.

Donnie glanced over at the human as his mouth twisted itself into something between a frown and a pout. Shell, this was this going to be embarrassing.

Still, it had to be done and so Donnie took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then blurted out, "Casey, would you go and buy us underwear?"


	5. Chapter 4

After taking a moment to process Donnie's request, Casey raised an eyebrow and said, "You want me to do what now?"

"Buy us underwear and a few other basics," Donnie repeated as a crimson flush stole across his olive skin. "We don't have any and, well, we kind of need it now."

"Oh… OH, uh, r-right, sure, I could, yeah…" Casey stammered as he stared at ground and did his best to keep himself from blushing, too, as he realized the implications of Donnie's statement.

Once the hokey-loving human's words trailed off, an awkward silence descended on the room and no one seemed to know what to say until Mikey's face lit up in a grin. "Dude, does that mean we can get boxers with stuff on them? I want a pair with cats! Wait, no, pizzas! Do they make boxers with pizza on them, Casey?"

The human stared at the excited mutant for a moment before grinning and saying, "I'm not sure. I've never looked for them before."

"Well, if they do, I want them. That would be too awesome!" Mikey decreed excitedly, "Oh, and you should get Donnie ones with…"

"Okay, moving on," Donnie interrupted hastily, jumping to his feet and knocking Leo into the couch cushions in the process. After a hasty apology to his annoyed sibling, Donnie pulled his robe a little tighter and began to move towards his lab as he said, "Just let me go get my card so that you can pay for them."

The genius only managed to make it a few steps before Casey asked, "You have a credit card?"

The question made Donnie pause mid-stride, then he chuckled lightly and turned around to give Casey a small grin as he replied, "Debit card, actually."

The hockey-lover stared at the russet-eyed teen in confusion. "I thought you needed to have a bank account to own one of those things?"

"You do," Donnie agreed. "And I do. Have a bank account, that is."

This reply only served to further Casey's confusion and so Donnie let out a sigh before launching into an explanation, "After Mikey decided to start ordering pizzas every other day, we needed a way to pay for them and, seeing how our collection of lost change was dwindling faster than we could restock it, I had to come up with a way to make money. As it turns out, there are loads of people who buy broken gadgets online so that they can refurbish them or use the spare parts. I've started to collect that kind of junk when I go to the junkyard to scavenge, then I sell it online and ship it via those 24-hour drop-off boxes.

"The bank account got opened up because I needed a place to deposit my sale profits. It wasn't too hard to do since I already had a social security number, though I did have to do a bit of hacking to get the account approved with a home address that wasn't residential," Donnie finished with a shrug.

After a moment of silence, Casey frowned and said, "You have a social security number?"

"We all do," Donnie explained as he turned around and began to move towards the lab once more while calling, "I hacked into the birth records database and registered the four of us as US citizens years ago, just in case," back over his shoulder.

The genius' reply made Casey's mouth drop open in shock, but then he grinned and shouted, "That's badass, D."

Donnie's only reply was a shy smile as he disappeared into his lab, returning mere moments later with a blue debit card and a piece of paper onto which he'd hastily scrawled two sets of numbers. As he handed Casey both items, the purple-masked mutant said, "The first number is the pin code and the second one is the current account balance. I don't actually know how much clothing costs, so…."

The genius let the sentence trail off as Casey quickly scanned the paper, his brown eyes widening at the number listed there. Had Donnie really made that much just from selling junk? After scanning the paper one more time to make sure he'd read it right, Casey looked up at Donnie and said, "Uh, that's gonna be plenty, trust me."

A relieved smile stole its way across the genius' features, but it was quickly replaced by a wide yawn that left the tall teen blushing once again.

A brief glance over at the other three brothers showed Casey that Donnie wasn't the only one who was tired. Leo looked exhausted and Mikey was currently using Raph's arm as a pillow while the red-masked brother did his best to keep his eyes from falling shut.

Casey knew full well that the guys would do their best to avoid sleeping until he was gone and so he rose to his feet with a cry of, "You guys rest up, k? Casey Jones will take care of the clothing issue."

"Just grab us underwear and whatever you think would work for basic outfits," Donnie instructed tiredly. "We'll go shopping after we wake up."

Casey grinned and then gave the genius a mocking salute before hurrying towards the lair's exit.

As the hockey-lover disappeared from sight, Leo glanced up at his tallest brother and asked, "Shopping? Wouldn't that mean letting the humans see us?"

Donnie nodded absentmindedly as he plopped back down on the couch and said, "Well, yeah, but that's not exactly an issue as long as we don't let them see our backs. We look human, remember?"

Leo made a little noise of agreement as his mouth widened into a yawn. It was only after he'd finished yawning and then pulled the blanket up around his shoulders that the full implications of Donnie's statement sunk in, leaving Leo wide-eyed as he whispered, "We look human."

It was the first time that the leader had bothered to think about what that meant and the realization stole his breath away. No more hiding in the shadows. No more fear of being seen. They could walk in the sun, go wherever they wanted, and no one would scream or call them monsters… What would that be like? Leo glanced around to see if any of his brothers were undergoing similar epiphanies, only to find himself smiling softly as he realized that all three of them were already fast asleep.

Then he glanced behind him to where Master Splinter was standing, silently watching over his sleeping children with a worried frown. When their eyes met, the ninjutsu master's gaze softened as he whispered, "Rest, my son. We shall deal with the challenges of your new forms once you've awakened."

Leo nodded sleepily and then curled up against Donnie's side as he let his eyes droop shut. Sensei was right. They were alive, they were together, and they were safe. All other worries could wait.


	6. Chapter 5

"Why won't you just tell me why you're bringing all these clothes down to the lair?" April griped as she followed Casey through the sewers, but the hockey lover just grinned and said, "I told you, Red, you gotta wait 'til we're there."

The young woman sighed and glared at the back of her friend's head, but she didn't argue further. It was clear that Casey wasn't going to spill the beans about this "big surprise" that was waiting for her and since when was he the one who got to know the turtles' secrets first? Heck, she hadn't even known that something was up until she'd seen Casey walking past her building with his massive bag of what appeared to be track suits in the turtles' signature colors.

That thought just soured her mood even further, drawing her pretty face into a scowl as they turned into the tunnel that led to the lair.

When the duo retched the part of the tunnel where the sewer ended and the subway tracks started, they began to hear the faint sounds of raised voices and, though they were still too far away to make out the words, they could already tell who was shouting.

"Wonder what Raph and Donnie are arguing about," April mused, making Casey shrug. He hadn't actually expected the guys to be awake when he got back, much less up and arguing about something. It was especially weird that the arguers were Raph and Donnie, those two never fought.

It appeared that April was having similar thoughts because the blue-eyed girl quickened her pace enough that Casey had to jog just to keep up. The extra touch of speed meant that they were soon close enough to make out words of the ongoing argument.

"…can turn us back, unless you feel like being regular turtle again?"

That was Donnie. The genius' voice had taken on the high-pitched quality that it always did when he was stressed out, not that Raph sounded any less stressed when he shouted back, "Just make a weaker batch!"

"That's not how it works!" Donnie exclaimed, his exasperated tone making it clear that they'd probably been over this already. "There is no half-way point. Retro-mutagen completely reverses the mutation process. To turn us back, I'd have to create an entirely _new_ strain of mutagen. Mutagen that I'd be testing on us and that's not happening!"

"Just because you wanna stay like this doesn't mean that…"

"For the last time, Raph, it has nothing to do with wanting to stay like this and everything to do with the fact that I _can't_ make it!"

By now Casey and April were within sight of the lair and a few more hurried steps brought the arguing duo into view. Raph and Donnie were standing in front of the couch where a worried-looking Mikey and a frowning Leo were sitting, silently watching the argument unfold.

All four brothers were too focused on the fight to notice the arrival of their human friends and so Raph pressed on with an angry demand of, "Can't make it or _won't_ make it?"

"Can't! C-A-N-T, can't, okay? I…" Donnie's words stuttered to a halt, then he sighed and lowered his gaze to the ground before quietly adding, "I'm not… I'm not smart enough, Raph."

Up until now, April had been the only person staring at either of the arguing duo with a look of shock on her face, but Donnie's admission change that. Now everyone was treating the genius to looks of astonishment as he wrapped his arms around his slim torso and said, "Retro-mutagen is just reverse engineering, taking what's already there and figuring out what counteracts it. Anyone could do it, really, but making a whole new kind of mutagen? I… I wouldn't even know where to begin."

A sad smile stole across Donnie's face as he looked back up at Raph and whispered, "I'm sorry, but I'm just not that smart," before turning away and heading towards his lab, too busy staring at the ground to notice April or Casey until the red-headed girl let out a shocked cry of, "What happened to you guys?"

Her cry broke the tense silence that had descended upon the little band of mutants as they all turned their gazes towards the lair's entrance.

The sight of his crush and the realization that she and Casey had just heard his little admission had Donnie flushing red with humiliation as his brothers moved across the room to greet their friends and fill April in on the previous night's adventures. After taking a few moments to let the shame wash over him, Donnie joined the group of teens, but he let his brothers do the talking, too embarrassed to say anything until April asked, "So you guys are human now?"

Even though she'd asked the question to the room at large, all eyes turned to Donnie and that actually made him feel a bit better. Nothing like showing off the smarts you've got to help you forget about the ones you don't, so he forced a smile onto his face and then said, "Well, not really. I mean, we're probably more human than _you_ are, but we're still hybrids of human DNA and turtle DNA."

He'd expected this brief explanation to inspire further question from the red-head, but instead it just made April tense, a flash of panic steeling across her face as Casey frowned and said, "Wait, more human than she is? What are you talking about?"

The question made Donnie's russet eyes widen in surprise as he looked at April and whispered, "He doesn't know?"

The blue-eyed girl shook her head slightly before glancing over at Casey, trying to gage his response to this new piece of information.

The hockey-nut looked stunned and his eyes were darting back and forth between Donnie and April as if he was waiting for one of them to say, "Gotcha!"

When it became clear that no such announcement was forthcoming, Casey laughed nervously and then said, "So, uh, don't tell me you used to be a turtle, too?"

"No, I wasn't a turtle," April replied, a harsh note coloring her voice as she glared at Donnie, making the purple-masked mutant cower under her withering gaze while she continued on, saying, "Both of my parent are human, actually, and I didn't get exposed to mutagen or anything like that. I just…"

Here the girl's voice trailed off as her glare turned into a look of sad resignation before she sighed and said, "It's complicated, okay?"

Casey nodded, though it was clear that he was more than a little curious about what April really was, but those questions were pushed to the back of his mind when Michelangelo finally noticed the bags sitting by Casey's feet, prompting the small teen to let out an excited cry of, "Dude, are those are clothes?"

"Of course they are," Casey declared as he reached down and pulled an orange track-suit from one of the bags, handing it Mikey with a proud exclamation of, "Casey Jones said he'd get you the basics and when Casey Jones makes a promise, Casey Jones delivers."

The hockey-nut followed up this announcement by digging back into the bags and pulling out three more brightly colored track suits. After he'd handed out the new clothing, he reached in to pull something else out and then stopped when he remembered that April was still there, watching the interaction with a half-hearted smile.

He hadn't stopped because of the sadness in the girl's smile, though. In fact, he hadn't even noticed it. No, Casey had stopped because the final items in the shopping bag were pieces of clothing that, as far as he was concerned, were not meant for female eyes.

It took Leo less than a second to realize why Casey had stopped and, when he did, a crimson flush stole over the leader's skin. Oh shell, there was no way that they were passing out _underwear_ with April watching them and it was pretty clear that Casey didn't know how to deal with this situation. Not that Leo had any clue what to do either, but he was the leader and that meant that it was his job to guide his men through challenges such as these, so he took a deep breath, then nervously said, "Uh, April?"

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Would you mind going into Donnie's lab for a couple of minutes?"

The red-head blinked in confusion as Mikey glanced at his brother curiously and asked, "Whatcha sending her away for?"

"So that Casey can finish handing out the rest of our new clothes, Mikey," the leader hissed before treating April to a nervous grin.

The hissed explanation was all that April needed to figure out what was still in the bag, which certainly explained why Casey was tomato-red. That realization made her grin as she glanced around the circle of boys and discovered that everyone but Mikey had turned some shade of crimson. Not that she could blame them, that wasn't an item of clothing that she'd want the boys to see, either, and so she turned around, heading towards Donnie's lab while calling, "Fine, but you only have five minutes and then I'm coming back out," over her shoulder.


	7. Chapter 6

Donnie lay on his back and stared up the ceiling as he debated the pros and cons of leaving his bedroom.

Pro: talking with his family about what course of action to take regarding their secondary mutation

Con: facing April after outing her status as a mutant

Con: facing Casey after outing April's status as a mutant

Con: facing everyone after telling them that he couldn't return his brothers to their previous bodies

Con: Being seen in this stupid, purple track-suit that was at least one size too small and there was no way that Casey hadn't done that on purpose

Con…

These thoughts trailed off as the scientist's door was pushed open, revealing a worried looking Michelangelo who quickly shuffled inside of the room as he asked, "Donnie, you okay?"

The scientist shrugged as best he could with his hands lying under his head and then said, "Yeah, I'm fine, Mikey. Just… thinking."

The smaller teen frowned and then closed Donnie's door before hopping onto the bed and taking a seat next to his brother as he asked, "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Stuff," Donnie replied vaguely, which just made Mikey's frown deepen as he studied his smartest brother, trying to figure out what had Donnie so upset.

After a few moments, the freckle-faced teen laid down so that he and Donnie were side-by-side, but unable to see each other's faces. Only then did he say, "You know it's okay if you can't change us back, right?"

The question made Donnie's whole body tense and a pained expression wormed its way onto his face, but Mikey pretended that he hadn't noticed as he pressed on, saying, "I mean, the whole clothing thing is weird and it's gonna take a while to get used to having this hair stuff on my head, but I'm still super cute and we're still us so it's okay. Raph's just being a butt because he hates change, you know that. Like, remember when Sensei found the lair?"

Donnie relaxed slightly, a small smile stealing across his face at the memory of his red-masked brother's reaction to their new home all those years ago.

Mikey hadn't failed to notice the way his words had made Donnie loosen up and so he continued on, reliving the memory with his smartest sibling. "You, me, and Leo were so excited, but Raph just stood by the turnstiles, refusing to come in because this wasn't home. It was…"

"'…some crummy old subway station and our real home was way better,'" Donnie finished with a smile and a small chuckle. "I remember. I also remember that you somehow managed to get yourself locked in the bathroom within five minutes of our arrival."

"Hey, I was four! Besides, Sensei got me out in no time!" Mikey countered as he turned his head to look over at Donnie, allowing himself a mental cheer when he saw the sadness fading from the genius' eyes as he said, "That doesn't change the fact that you got all four of us banned from going in there alone for the whole first month!"

"And what else happened by the end of that first month?" Mikey asked pointedly, which made Donnie roll his eyes, but there was no annoyance in his voice when he replied, "Raph had fallen in love with this place.

This statement was followed by a heavy sigh and then Donnie added, "but accepting a new body isn't like getting used to a new home, Mikey."

The sadness was back now and Mikey didn't know what to say to make it go away again.

Luckily, someone else did.

"Hey, if Rahzar and Fishface can deal with those hideous forms of theirs, then I can get used to this one, okay?"

Donnie and Mikey's eyes widened in surprise as they both sat up and looked towards the doorway where Raph was standing, leaning against the doorframe and staring out into the lair's central area. As his siblings gawked at him, Raph added, "So stop beatin' yourself up and get out here so our fearless leader can tell us all about whatever plan he's come up with."

There was a beat of silent and then Donnie softly murmured, "Okay," before gently nudging Mikey out of the bed. Once his smallest brother was on his feet, Donnie stood up and moved towards the door where he paused briefly to share a look with his red-masked sibling. A look that ended with twin smiles on their faces as they headed towards the couches where Leo, April, and Casey were already sitting.

As they drew nearer, an annoyed frown creased Donnie's brow. "Hey, who gave you permission to use my laptop?"

His brother's cry made Leo glance back over the couch and grin at the approaching trio as he called back, "Sorry, Donnie. April and I were just making our attack plan and we needed to look up some street layouts."

"Attack plan?" Donnie echoed while Casey shook his head and gave Leo a disgusted look that the blue-masked leader promptly ignored. Instead, he kept clicking away on Donnie's laptop while he absentmindedly replied, "For our shopping trip."

"Why do we need an attack plan for a shopping trip?" Raph asked as he vaulted over the back of the couch and then plopped down next to Leo.

"You _don't_," Casey burst out, a clear note of exasperation coloring his voice as he added, "You just go into a shop, pick out the first thing that looks good, then you pay for it and leave. No planning required."

"Maybe that's true when you're just buying one outfit," April explained, "But they have to buy a full wardrobe."

"Then just buy a bunch of copies of the same outfit," Casey retorted, but April wasn't listening him anymore.

Instead, she'd turned to look at Donnie, Mikey, and Raph as she said, "I think that Leo and I have a good, basic plan for where to start, but is there anywhere that you three wanted to go? I don't actually know what kind of clothing you like."

The trio blinked and then exchanged blank looks because the truth of the matter was that they had no clue what kind of clothing they liked. They'd never had to think about it before and so Mikey and Raph just replied to the question with shrugs of indifference.

Though Donnie was just as ignorant as his brothers, he did his best to consider the question for a minute or so before hesitantly offering, "Could we go somewhere that has a wide range of styles to choose from? That would probably be a good starting point."

This statement was met with a short pause as April considered Donnie's question, then she smiled and nodded. "Sure, Goodwill it is then!"

The declaration made a look of surprise flash across Leo's face and he was going to protest that they'd already made a plan that didn't involve Goodwill – whatever that was – but then he thought better of it. April was the expert here, not him, so he simply shrugged and then shutdown Donnie's laptop as he said, "Okay, I'll go tell Sensei what the plan is and make sure that he's okay with us going out in the daylight, then we can get moving."

Before the leader could rise to his feet, though, Raph made a little noise of shock and then said, "Whoa, daylight? Uh, Leo, humans are out then, remember?"

"I know, but we look like humans, Raph. They won't know that we're mutants," Leo replied with a wide grin as he stood up and took off towards Master Splinter's room, leaving all but one of his brothers staring after him with wide eyes and open mouths.

As Leo knocked on the door that lead into his father's private chambers, he could hear Donnie (the only one of his brothers who hadn't look as if Leo had just blown his mind) groaning, "Wait, you guys are only _just_ getting that?"

That was all that Leo got to hear before his Sensei called for him to enter and so the leader ignored the part of him that wanted to hear what Raph and Mikey would say in reply and entered his father's chambers.

Once he'd made his way inside and closed the door behind him, Leo knelt down and bowed, a showing of respect that he and his brothers had practiced since the day that they first began their training.

Usually, Master Splinter would tell them to rise within moments of their arrival, but today, this was not the case. Instead, a long silence ensued during which Leo could feel his father watching him. Though he was curious about the unfamiliar wait, the young katana-wielder didn't move from his position until his father finally sighed and said, "Rise, my son."

Leo did as he was told with a whispered, "Thank you, Sensei," and then looked up to study his father.

It was clear that Master Splinter had been meditating based off of the ring of still-lit candles that surrounded the old rat, but that wasn't unusual. What was unusual was the picture that was sitting in his lap. The picture that was usually housed in the family dojo. The picture of Master Splinter and his old family, his human family.

Leo did his best to ignore the picture's presence, focusing on his father's face instead as he explained their plan for the day.

Splinter listened closely and, when Leo had finished, he nodded. "This seems like a wise plan, my son, but be careful. You and your brothers may look human now, but the human world is still a mystery to you. Allow April and Casey to be your guides on this journey and let them teach you how to act."

The blue-masked teen bowed and thanked his father for the blessing, but he didn't leave just yet. Instead, he glanced at the picture and haltingly asked, "Sensei, are you…"

"I am fine, Leonardo, but there are many things that I must consider in light of your change," Splinter explained. "Now go, enjoy your trip and try to be home on time for once."

Leo grinned and nodded once before heading out of the door to join his brothers and his friends.

It was only once his eldest son was gone that Splinter sighed, looked down at the picture, and ran a claw along the image of his human form. Yes, there were many things to consider. Many things to consider indeed.


	8. Chapter 7

When Leo left Master Splinter's chambers and made his way back to the lair's central area, he found himself greeted by the rather unusual sight of a mask-less Raph sitting patiently on the couch with his back to April as she ran a comb through his dark-brown hair.

The bizarre image left Leo standing stunned for almost a full minute before he shook his head and then glanced over to where his other brothers and Casey were sitting, their gazes glued to the TV as an episode of Super Robo Mecha Force Five flashed across the screen. That glance was all it took for Leo to realize that Raph wasn't the only one who'd gotten his hair combed because it was pretty obvious that Mikey's wild, golden locks had been brushed into somewhat neat curls while Donnie's shoulder-length, mahogany hair had been pulled back into a neat ponytail.

As he studied his brothers' newly styled hair, Leo reached up and brushed a hand through his own mop of dirty-blonde tresses, wincing when his fingers got caught up in a mass of tangles. When had those happened and was that normal?

The thought made him frown as he began to walk across the room to join his family and friends while silently wondering if April was planning to offer to help him with his hair, too.

That question was answered when the sound of his footsteps drew April's gaze away from Raph's hair and over to the approaching teen. As soon as she saw him, she grinned and said, "Hey Leo, want me to do you next?"

The blue-masked leader nodded gratefully and then took a seat next to Raph to wait his turn. As he waited, he couldn't help but ask, "Where'd you get all the hair stuff?"

"From that emergency overnight bag that Donnie had me leave here after I moved home," April explained before asking Raph if he wanted his hair pulled back like Donnie's.

The green-eyed teen thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "If it'll keep the damn stuff out of my eyes, then sure."

April let out a short chuckle and then grabbed a green hair-tie from the small pile of them that was sitting next to her. Then she quickly tied Raph's hair behind his head as she said, "Here, this one will match your eyes."

That declaration made Raph scowl, but he still managed to give April a somewhat sincere thank you before standing up and moving over to sit next to Casey. As soon as the sai-wielder had vacated his former seat, April motioned for Leo to move forward and turn around so that she could start on his hair. He did so, but April didn't start her task right away. Instead, she folded her arms and said, "Mask off."

The demand made Leo start and then he turned around to give her a confused glance as he asked, "What? Why?"

"Because I can't comb your hair when you've got a ninja mask tangled in it. Besides, you'll have to take it off soon anyway," April explained impatiently which only served to confuse Leo further.

When she saw the bewildered look that her statement had caused, April sighed and added, "You can't exactly go shopping with a mask on, Leo."

The katana-wilder blinked and then made a small "oh" sound before hesitantly reaching up and removing his mask as he turned back around so that April could access his hair. While he sat there, letting the red-head comb through his tangled mess of dirty-blond locks, Leo began to ponder what else they'd have to leave behind and his whole body stiffened as he came to a rather unpleasant realization.

"April?"

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Can we take our weapons into stores?"

The question made the young woman pause mid-brushstroke as she stared at the back of Leo's head, wondering if he was joking. When it became apparent that he wasn't, she frowned and said, "Uh, not unless you feel like getting arrested."

Those words instantly had the other three Hamato brothers staring at April with varying levels of surprise and outrage as Raph cried, "What? No way! What if the Kraang show up?"

Unsure what to say, April just shrugged and then glanced over at Casey who scratched his head and said, "Hey, don't look at me, Red."

The vigilante's response did nothing to help the already tense mood and Raph looked like he was going to start shouting again, but before he could, Leo turned around and decreed, "It's alright, guys. We'll just move quickly and, if the worst happens, well, we've been stuck in a fight without our weapons before and we can do it again, if we have to."

The reminder of that particular incident had Mikey and Donnie exchanging worried looks, but then they nodded half-heartedly as Raph crossed his arms and muttered, "Fine, any other stupid rules we need to know for this dumb trip?"

"Other than no shoes, no shirt, no service, I think you're good," April joked and then her eyes widened as she glanced down at the Hamato boys' feet, all of which were completely bare. This led to a short silence that ended when she looked over at Casey and said, "You didn't happen to buy them some kind of shoes while you were shopping, did you?"

The hockey-nut's sheepish grin was all the answer that she needed and April found herself letting out a small groan as she quickly pulled Leo's hair back into a ponytail and then rose to her feet while proclaiming, "Okay, everyone into the Shellraiser. It's time to get this show on the road."

* * *

A quick trip through the tunnels and an even quicker wait by the Shellraiser's secret exit found the boys sporting cheap flip-flops that had Raph muttering about how uncomfortable they were while Donnie and Leo fretted over how impractical the shoes would be should a fight break out. All of this lasted about two minutes before April treated them all to the most terrifying glare that they'd ever seen while she hissed, "You know, you guys are _more_ than welcome to _thank_ me for all the help I've given you."

The outburst left everyone staring at April in shocked silence. Everyone, that is, except Mikey, who just grinned and surged forward to give her a massive hug as he said, "Thanks, April. You're the best!"

The others hastily nodded in agreement as the annoyed girl let out a small sigh and then treated them all to another, slightly-less-terrifying glare as she hugged Mikey back. Then, when the hug was over, she motioned towards the secret exit's maintenance door and said, "So, can we get moving or do you wanna keep whining about your shoes?"

"No, we're good," Leo replied with a nervous smile that had Raph rolling his eyes and giving the leader an incredulous glance as April nodded and headed off towards the exit.

The four brothers and Casey followed her out of the door and into the alleyway where the four former turtles came to an abrupt halt. It took April and Casey a moment to notice that they'd lost their companions, but when they did, they turned around to see all four boys sporting awestruck looks as they stared at the end of the alley where a seemingly endless stream of people was marching past.

After a long silence, Mikey gulped and said, "There's so many of them."

"Well, New York City does have a population of over 8 million that it somehow crams into 469 square miles," Donnie replied anxiously, which broke Raph out of his trance and left him shaking his head in disbelief as he asked, "Okay, why do you know that?"

It took a second for the question to register, but when it did, Donnie's brow furrowed and then he turned his gaze away from the throng and towards his green-eyed brother as he intelligently replied, "Huh?"

Raph shrugged and then rephrased the question. "I mean, what the shell were you researching that required you to memorize the size and population of New York City?"

"Oh," Donnie whispered, turning his gaze to the ground as murmured, "I was, uh, I was trying to, to figure out how much retromutagen I'd need if the Kraang, well, if they won."

There was a moment of stunned silence and then Leo asked the question that they were all thinking, "So, what's the number?"

Donnie grinned humorlessly and kept his gaze trained on the ground as he replied, "Oh, about 350 gallons or so."

"That doesn't seem like too much," Mikey hesitantly offered, but that only made Donnie sigh.

Then the scientist looked up at the others, ready to explain how impossibly high that number was when you considered how much mutagen you'd have to distill and the daunting amount of other chemicals you'd need, but the worried looks on their faces made him pause. What was the point of spouting off more doom and gloom right now? Hadn't they had enough bad news for one day? So, instead, he forced a smile and said, "Yeah, it'll just take a while to make and I might need to knock down a wall or two to expand the lab a bit."

Relieved smiles spread across the group's faces and Donnie kept smiling back as he added, "It'd also help if Mikey would stop breaking my test tubes."

This statement changed the relieved smiles to grins as Mikey began to protest that he rarely ever broke Donnie's "lab stuff."

A protest that quickly ended after April let out a snort of laughter and then said, "Come on you guy, let's get moving. We've got a lot of shopping to do."


	9. Chapter 8

It should have taken them all of twenty minutes to walk from the Shellraiser's hidden exit to the Goodwill and it probably would have if it weren't for the fact that Mikey had slowed to a halt in front of a pizza parlor because of how _good_ it smelled. Then he'd started giggling when he realized that he could go inside and order a pizza in person without anyone screaming. The freckle-faced teen's antics had made Raph roll his eyes and then he'd grabbed his smallest brother's hand, fully intending to drag him away from the shop. A plan that was forgotten the moment that his bright, green eyes had caught sight of a sporting goods store and he'd stopped mid-stride to drool over the punching bag in the window while Mikey ogled the skateboard display.

As Donnie watched these events unfold with a mixture of understanding and amusement, Leo had sighed and declared that he'd get them to move, but then the katana-wielder had noticed the oriental tea shop next door and, well, it wouldn't be proper for them to not get Sensei something while they were out, right?

So here they were, a full half-hour later, shopping for _tea_. April wasn't sure if she should be annoyed or amused.

Casey had clearly chosen the latter route because he was slouching by the door and grumbling in annoyance. Though, now that April thought about it, the hockey-nut's sour mood probably had more to do with the fact that he couldn't understand what anyone was saying then the fact that they'd taken an unexpected detour.

Not that April could blame him there. As fascinating as it was to watch the four brothers speaking rapid fire Japanese with the shop's owner, she really wished she knew what they were saying and being stuck out of the loop was starting to get irritating.

Just as this thought flashed through her mind, Donnie pulled out his debt card and handed it to the shop owner, who quickly swiped it through her machine before handing it back to the scientist. As he returned the card to his pocket, the grey haired shop owner presented Leo with a small bag of tea that the young leader gracefully accepted with a respectful bow and the words, "Domo arigato gosaimasu."

The other three brothers gave little bows of their own and then all four of them moved to join their waiting friends.

When Casey realized that they were leaving, he muttered, "_Finally_," and then hastily made his way out of the exit with the others hot on his heels. As they emerged from the shop back into the sunlight, April glanced over at Leo and asked, "So, can we go to Goodwill now or are we going to make another detour?"

The question brought a light blush to Leo's face and he was about to answer when Donnie let out a happy, little gasp and said, "Oh wow, look at that!"

The others turned to see what the scientist was talking about and found themselves staring across the street at an electronics shop where a brightly lit display was heralding the arrival of a new shipment of laptops that had something called a quad-core processor. The term meant nothing to the five of them, but the way that Donnie's eyes were shinning made it pretty clear that, whatever a quad-core processor was, it was probably cutting edge.

After a brief exchange of looks that involved several eye rolls, two shrugs, and a blank stare, Leo hesitantly asked, "So, Donnie, did you wanna go check it out?"

The offer made the scientist blink in surprise and then he glanced between their group and the shop a couple of times before a small, almost sad smile spread across his face. "No, that's okay. We don't have time to get sidetracked again."

That wasn't the reply that the others had been expecting, nor had they expected him to motion down the street and ask, "The Goodwill's this way, right April?" But he did and the answer was "yes," so they all took off in the direction that he'd motioned to and left the computer store far behind them.

* * *

The rest of their trek to the Goodwill went by without any major incidents and they only had to drag Mikey away from shop windows four more times before they finally arrived at their destination: a large, two-story building whose sign proudly proclaimed "Goodwill Outlet Store, Value by-the-Pound."

The inside of the store was lined with racks of mismatched clothing that came in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and colors. After take a moment to scan these and wonder what outfits the boys would chose, April turned to look at them and discovered that all four brothers were staring at her expectantly while Casey studied the nearby mannequins with a bored expression on his face.

April wasn't sure why she was being treated to the boys' undivided attention, but it was pretty clear that they were waiting for her to do something and so she said the only thing she could think to say, "What?"

The four brothers exchanged looks and then returned their gazes to April as Leo pointed over his shoulder and asked, "How does it work?"

She tried to figure out what exactly he was pointing at, but as far as she could tell the katana-wielder was just motioning to the store at large and so she was forced to reply, "How does what work?"

"Shopping for clothes," Leo explained which left April feeling a bit sheepish. Of course they didn't know how to shop for clothes! She knew that, but she's sort of forgot about it after they'd done so well with their earlier shopping experience.

That thought made her brow furrow as she asked, "Wait, how'd you guys know how to handle yourselves back in that tea shop?"

The question left Leo looking a little sheepish as Mikey grinned and said, "It was like pizza!"

An outburst which had both Casey and April giving the curly-haired teen confused looks as Donnie sighed and said, "What Mikey means is that it was like _ordering_ a pizza. You just pick out the toppings, or in the case the tea, that you want and then pay for it."

"That's what I said," Mikey countered with a light pout as Raph groaned and then demanded that they stop fooling around and get on with this "shopping crap."

A fair enough demand since they'd now been standing in the entryway for a good seven minutes and were starting to attract weird looks from the staff by the registers.

When April realized this, she quickly motioned for the boys to follow her as she guided them over to the nearest rack of clothing and then gave them a brief explanation on how you picked out clothing that would fit you, how changing rooms worked, and how to tell the difference between clothing tailored for a feminine form vs. clothing meant for a masculine one. Then she set them loose and watched in amusement as all four of them darted off to look for clothing that they liked.

Once she was reasonably certain that they had the basic idea of how to navigate the shop, April scanned the room for Casey and spotted him playing with his phone as he leaned against the wall by the changing rooms. Since she had nothing better to do until the guys had decided what they wanted to try on first, she decided to join the hockey-nut and see what he was up to.

As April was making her way towards Casey, Donnie was looking through a rack of pants and trying to find a pair that was long enough for him, a task that was proving none too easy. He'd just shoved yet another pair of too-short cargo-pants back onto their hanger when Raph wandered over with a smirk on his face and a dark-blue t-shirt in his arms.

Donnie took one look at that smirk and then gave his brother a curious glance, silently asking what was up.

Raph's only reply was to hold the t-shirt up so that Donnie could read it. As soon as he did, the genius slapped a hand over his mouth and then began laughing so hard that tears formed in his eyes. This just made Raph's smirk widen as he watched his science-loving brother literally double over with laughter.

When Donnie finally managed to catch his breath, he wiped the tears from his eyes and then said, "We _have_ to make him get it."

"Get what?" asked Mikey who'd stopped browsing through a nearby rack of jackets and come to join his brothers when he'd heard Donnie's laughter.

Donnie just grinned and motioned at the t-shirt in Raph's arms. It took Mikey all of five seconds to read the sky-blue words printed on the shirt and, when he had, his puzzled frown instantly transformed into to a Cheshire-cat grin. "Raph, I think you just became my favorite brother."

The green-eyed teen simply continued to smirk as Donnie let out another chuckle and then said, "Don't let him see that until we're all there, okay?"

A request that Raph quickly agreed to before carefully folding the shirt so that the words were hidden again. Then the three brothers exchanged secretive nods and resumed their mission to find potential outfits for themselves.

They diligently worked at this task until they saw Leo heading for the changing rooms with a bundle of clothing in his arms at which point they all grabbed the outfits that they'd already picked out and then hurried to join him.

The four brothers reached the changing rooms within a few seconds of each other and, once they were there, they discovered that Casey and April were sitting against a nearby wall and talking, though the duo's conversation drew to a halt when they noticed the Hamato boys watching them.

The sight of her friends standing there with piles of clothing in their arms made April smile. Then she got up to join them while saying, "Hey guys, had any luck?"

"Yeah, some. In fact, I actually found something for you, Leo," Raph replied while working very hard to keep a straight face.

This made the group's leader perk up as he turned to face Raph while asking, "You did?"

Raph nodded and then set his pile of clothes down on an unoccupied chair that stood beside the entrance to the change rooms. Once he was certain that the pile was stable, Raph drew out the dark-blue t-shirt and then held it open so that Leo, Casey, and April could read it while Donnie and Mikey watched with wide grins plastered across their faces.

Leo took one look at the shirt which read, "Leadership just radiates from my body," and then folded his arms across his chest as he glared at his brothers who simply treated him to matching grins while April and Casey doubled over with laughter.

The laughter made a dark flush spread across Leo's face as he loudly declared, "I am _not_ wearing that!"

This, of course, did nothing to staunch the duo's laughter and so Leo treated his siblings to a final glare before quickly darting into the changing rooms as his face grew even redder. After their brother had stormed off, Raph turned to April and said, "You know, I think I'm starting to like this whole shopping thing."


	10. Chapter 9

After taking a few minutes to let the embarrassment fade from his cheeks, Leo fumbled himself into the first of the five outfits that he'd chosen: a simple, white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The whole process took far longer than he would ever care to admit, but zippers were weird!

Once he'd finally managed to dress himself, the katana-wielder emerged from his dressing room and started to head out towards the main store to see what April and Casey thought of his new look. That plan was placed on hold when he noticed Donnie standing in the middle of the core changing room area. The genius had changed into a long-sleeved, purple, button-down shirt and black cargo-pants and was now standing in front of a floor-length mirror, twisting his body around, clearly trying to examine his new look from every possible angle.

As Leo watched this display, he sensed a familiar presence drawing near and so he wasn't the least bit surprised when Raph appeared at his side. The sai-wielder studied Donnie for a moment and then said, "What's he doing?"

Up until now, Donnie had failed to notice his brothers, but Raph's question made him spin around and stare at them as a blush colored his cheeks pink.

The duo pretended not to notice this new attention, though, choosing to carry on their conversation as if Donnie was still oblivious to their presence. A choice which made Leo grin and say, "Checking himself out, as far as I can tell."

Raph made a small noise of understanding and then added, "Probably trying to impress April."

"Isn't he always?" Leo replied while shaking his head sadly.

By now Donnie's face was scarlet, his hands were curled into fists, and he couldn't keep quiet any longer, so he glared at his siblings and spluttered, "N-no, I'm not! I, I just wanna make sure that I actually like this look, that's all."

The two older siblings exchanged knowing grins and then chorused, "Suuuuure," as poor Donnie's face grew even redder.

This probably would have gone on for some time if Mikey hadn't emerged from his own changing room to ask, "What's wrong with Donnie wanting to look nice for April?"

The question made Donnie let out a relieved sigh, then he turned around while starting to thank his youngest brother for the support, only to have the words die on his lips as soon as his gaze fell upon the curly-haired teen.

The reason for Donnie's sudden loss of words was clear to Raph and Leo, both of whom were staring at their smallest sibling with looks of horror on their faces.

Mikey stared back as his lips twisted into a puzzled frown, then he cocked his head to the side and asked, "Why's everybody lookin' at me like that?"

Donnie and Raph just continued to stare, clearly at a loss for word, but Leo actually managed to reply, "_What_ are you wearing?"

That cry was enough to jolt the other two Hamato brothers out of their stupors and prompted Raph to add, "I think my eyes are bleeding," while Donnie muttered, "They make neon-green jeans?"

Instead of acknowledging his brothers' horrified stares, Mikey just grinned and spun around, showing off his bright-orange t-shirt and uniquely-colored pants while exclaiming, "Isn't it neat?"

"It's an eyesore!" Raph replied as Leo and Donnie exchanged uncertain glances.

These less-than-stellar reactions stole the smile from Mikey's face, replacing it with an annoyed pout as he crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Oh, what do you guys know about fashion anyway? I'm sure April and Casey will think I look awesome!"

Then he stalked out of the changing area and headed into the main store with his brothers trailing along after him.

Unsurprisingly, April and Casey were waiting for them right outside of the changing rooms and both humans' eyes widened when they saw the outfit that Mikey was sporting, but there wasn't horror there, just surprise that quickly faded to amusement as Casey said, "Cool pants, Mikey."

The freckle-faced teen beamed and then turned around to give his brothers' an "I told you so" look while Raph stared at his best friend in shock and spluttered, "Wait, what?"

This cry was met with confused looks from both humans which just made Raph groan, "You can't seriously like those things."

It took Casey a second to figure out what Raph was talking about and even then he wasn't totally sure he'd gotten it right, so he asked, "What, his jeans?"

"Yeah!"

"Dude," Casey replied with a wide grin, "I've lived in New York City for all seventeen years of my life. Those aren't even a blip on the weird radar."

While Raph took his time to consider this statement, Mikey turned towards Donnie and Leo, giving the duo his best puppy-dog eyes as he said, "That means that I can get them, right?"

Leo looked uncertain how to answer that, but Donnie shook his head and replied, "No, Mikey, you can't get them."

The blonde's face fell at this decree and there was a clear note of betrayal in his voice when he whined, "What? Why?"

"It's got nothing to do with the color," the scientist quickly clarified. "It's the fabric. Leo and Raph can't keep their jeans either."

That got everyone's attention and now all three brothers were glaring at Donnie, waiting for him to explain, which he did, "You can't fight in jeans. The fabric's too restrictive. Try doing a sidekick in those things and you'll wind up with one of two outcomes: a failed kick or ripped seems. Actually, you could wind up with both of those, so that's three outcomes!"

Having never tried fighting in jeans before, the other three boys weren't ready to just take Donnie's word on the matter, but after a few comical attempts to pull off their usual moves, they reluctantly accepted his logic.

After one, last, half-hearted attempt to do a side-kick, Leo sighed, glanced back towards the changing rooms, and muttered, "I don't think that any of the pants I picked out are gonna work."

This admission made Donnie wince slightly, then he said, "Sorry, it's my fault for not bringing it up earlier. I just didn't think about it."

"So what _can_ we wear, genius?" Raph asked, a question that led to a rather boring, but informative lecture on fabric types.

Once Donnie had finished his monologue, his brothers quickly changed back into their track suits and then spread out through the store, looking for outfits that fit Donnie's criteria. As they set about this task, the bo-wielder finished trying on his small selection of clothes, all of which proved to be perfectly suited to both his lanky frame and ninja training.

The same could not be said for the vast majority of the choices that the other three brothers made and it was another two hours before they finally managed to pick out an acceptable selection of clothing. In that short period of time, all six teens' attitudes had gone from relatively upbeat to positively sour and there was a dark cloud hanging over the entire group as they paid for their clothing and then left the store.

A dark cloud that got even darker when Donnie hesitantly reminded them that they still needed to buy shoes that they could fight in, but none of them could argue the scientist's point and so April reluctantly began to lead them towards the closest shoe shop that she could think of.

Though the shop was a good two block away, they only made it about half a block before the red-head stopped so suddenly that the boys almost ran into her.

As the five of them screeched to a halt and then treated April to a variety of confused and annoyed looks, she spun around and treated them to a wide grin as she asked, "Hey, did you guys wanna get your hair cut?"

"Do what now?" Raph asked as Mikey covered his hair with his hands and cried, "Wont that hurt?"

While this last question made April blink in surprise and stare in bewilderment at Mikey's terrified face, Donnie sighed and said, "No, it won't hurt, Mikey. Hair is actually made up of keratin, the same substance that makes up your fingernails and its removal…"

"But it's so soft and fingernails are so hard," Mikey interrupted as he brought his hands down and stared at his fingernails curiously.

Donnie sighed again and then started to explain the reason for the difference, but he was quickly cut off by Leo, who asked, "Why would we want to cut our hair?"

April shrugged. "I just figured you'd want something shorter than what you have now. Long hair can be a pain to deal with."

The leader had to admit that she had a point and so, after a brief exchange of looks between himself and Raph, Leo nodded and said, "Well, there's no harm in checking it out, right?"

When no one objected, the katana-wielder motioned for the others to follow him and then guided them into the hairdresser's.

As they entered the shop, a powerful, chemical smell wafted over them, making all four Hamato brothers twist their faces into unpleasant grimaces as the salon's receptionist looked up and treated the group to a pleasant smile before asking, "Can I help you?"

While the brothers slowly acclimatized to the strange smells, April stepped forwards and said, "Yes, actually. These four need to get their hair cut and we wanted to know if you had any available appointments."

The receptionist nodded and quickly began typing on her computer. A minute later she glanced up at the group and said, "I can take two of them in about fifteen minutes and I'll have stylists available for the other two within the next hour, if that's alright with you."

April glanced over at the guys to see if they had any opinions on the matter, but it was pretty clear that they were letting her take the lead here, so she nodded and then asked, "Do you have anything we could use to look at male hairstyles?"

Which was how the six of them had found themselves huddled in the salons waiting area, pouring over fashion magazines.

A short while later, two women in the salon's signature black uniforms came up to the front and asked who got to go first, which lead to Raph and Leo volunteering as both of them had quickly figured out what they wanted done with their hair. Mikey was the next to go, wandering off with a male stylist who couldn't stop gushing over the blue-eyed teen's curls which just left Donnie. The scientist was sitting by April's side, staring towards the back of the salon as he nervously fidgeted with the zippers on the duffle bag that he'd bought to store all of their clothing purchases in.

"You okay, D?" Casey asked, jolting Donnie back to reality and drawing his gaze towards his two friend, both of whom were looking at him with concerned curiosity.

After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, the scientist smiled softly and said, "I'm okay, it's just this whole trusting people we've never met thing. I'm not a fan."

This admission made both Casey and April adopt thoughtful looks and, after a minute, the hockey-nut slowly said, "I guess I never thought about it like _that_."

"Yeah," April agreed, "we kind of do it all the time: waiters, hairstylists, cooks, bus drivers…"

Her words trailed off as another woman in the salon's uniform approached the trio and asked, "So, which of you three is coming with me?"

"That would be me," Donnie volunteered nervously, then he started to stand up, only to pause when the weight of his duffle bag started to weigh him down. "Oh, right, what should I do with this?"

"Why don't I take it back to the shell… car and then come back here to meet up with you guys?" Casey offered, earning him a grateful look from the scientist who quickly pulled the bag over his head and then handed it over to the other teen.

Casey took the offered bag and then instantly let go of it, letting it plop on the ground as his eyes widened. After taking a moment to give the duffle a shocked look, the hockey-nut stared at Donnie and asked, "How in the world were you carrying this thing around like it weighed nothing? It's gotta be at least 50 pounds!"

These words drew an impish smile onto Donnie's face as he replied, "Well if you can't carry it then…"

"I can carry it," Casey interrupted with a glare as he swung the bag over his shoulder and then marched out of the salon, earning a confused look from the other patrons who'd been sitting in the waiting area, an amused chuckle from Donnie, and an eye roll from April.

After the hockey-nut had disappeared from sight, the stylist asked, "Ready to go, sweetie?"

Donnie, who'd never been called "sweetie" in all sixteen years of his life, took a few seconds to process this new nickname before nodding half-heartedly and then following the woman into the main area of the salon. As she led him along, he caught glimpses of his other three brothers and he wasn't the least bit surprised to discover that both Leo and Raph had both traded their ponytails for much shorter styles. A discovery which led him to frown and then reach up to his own hair, wrapping his fingers through the long tresses that April had so carefully combed for him. It was… comforting, actually. The long hair reminded him of the mask tails that usually hung down to brush along the back of his neck and he didn't like the thought of chopping it all off.

This idea and similar ones were still flitting about his mind when they reached the stylists chair where she asked him, "Now, what were you thinking about changing?"

The question made him lower his gaze to the ground as he shuffled his feet nervously and quietly said, "I, uh, well, I kind of like it like this, actually."

"Well, I have to admit it does seem to suit you, but how about we get rid of those split ends and even up the layers so that it looks a bit neater?" the stylist offered with a smile.

Donnie didn't really understand what any of that meant, but it sounded like the woman knew what she was talking about, so he nodded and then let the woman strap a weird, black robe around his neck.


End file.
